After last week’s first leg of the UEFA Champions League at the Stadio Olimpico, I thought that Bayer would get the first leg advantage, but it was Lazio getting the edge with a 1-0 win.
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The alarm bells may already be starting to sound after Hannover only just avoided relegation last season, while Leverkusen will go into the return leg of their Champions League play-off on Wednesday in confident mood.
I think this figure is low and that Bayer should cover it easily expecially if Lazio can hold out for an hour or so.
Pioli introduced Ricardo Kishna and Ravel Morrison as his team chased the away goal that would have put them through, but Bellerabi sealed the victory after Julian Brandt ran through on goal and squared the ball to him in a position from which he could not miss. Schmidt made it clear in the days leading up the game that an away goal was crucial, but despite creating a number of chances, it never materialised. But, at the same time, if we’re here it’s because we’ve played in a certain way and deserve to be here.
“We have to be proactive in order to cause them problems as we have so much quality in our forwards. That is, play to win”.
Lazio’s ability to get a victory has been hampered by injuries to veteran striker Miroslav Klose, Filip Djordjevic, midfielder Lucas Biglia and goalkeeper Federico Marchett.
As for the Italian squad, they also opened their Serie A season with a win over Bolognia.
“Unfortunately he won’t be on the pitch [Klose], but we have other players with different characteristics who will be trying to do their best in tomorrow’s game”, the Lazio boss said.
Astana are 90 minutes from making history as they look to become the first Kazakh team to qualify for the main competition.
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Astana will travel around 3,500 kilometres, a relatively short trip by their European standards, to defend a 1-0 lead on Wednesday against Cypriot champions APOEL Nicosia, surprise quarter-finalists in 2011/12.
